Woman ‘attacked in racist incident at May Day march’

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FOOTAGE has emerged of an incident in which a black woman appears to be called a “n***er” on the London May Day march.

Community activist and feminist Lesley Woodburn described how a group of young white people racially abused her for a banner she was carrying with a friend on May 1.

The banner displayed the dictionary definition of the word woman: “Woman: Adult human female,” which she said she was carrying to “defend our sex-based rights as women and girls,” in relation to contemporary debate about sex and gender.

She said that while she was walking on the march the group shouted: “Black scum,” “transphobe” and “Terf” at her – which is a derogatory term for women who are concerned about planned changes to the Gender Recognition Act.

Ms Woodburn said that when she arrived at the rally in Trafalgar Square she stood watching the speakers for around half an hour before being approached by a man who handed her a leaflet for a London Antifa group before becoming aggressive.

She alleges that he tried to grab her banner off her, saying it was “transphobic.”

She says he then pulled on the banner and deliberately let go. She fell to the ground and hurt her back.

Ms Woodburn says the group of young white people then reappeared and one of them called her a “n***er” and others chanted “Terf, terf, terf” at her and called her a “fascist.” The Morning Star received an anonymous message disputing this and saying the word heard as “n***er” was actually “bigot.”

Ms Woodburn added that she was “surprised, shocked and hurt” by the incident but that she had found “a new strength” and that she “wouldn’t be bullied” for standing up for women’s sex-based rights.

She also said that she had campaigned against the far right many times in Britain and Europe over the years was upset that young people did not know “what fascism really was” if they could call a black feminist a fascist.